Adventures: Unorthodox Problem Solving
by My Thoughts and Opinions
Summary: What's the best way to beat a magician?


**Hello, fellow fanfic readers 'n' writers! Yet another multiple of 5 has been reached with this story that nobody reads from my 20:00 to 20:30... oh well. Let's crack on with it straightaway, and hopefully you enjoy it. Feeling lazy today...**

**DISCLAIMER: Nope, none today. The disclaimer is that there is no disclaimer.**

"The Expert, we have a problem," Chase shouted.

The Bernese mountain dog turned his attention to Chase. "My name is not Houston." **[Hahahahahaha... Hahahahahaha!]** Chase facepawed in only humour. "What's gone on now?

"A card shark and magician has been going around using his 'magic' to rob a lot of stores in the vicinity. The last one was in Foggy Bottom, and he's rumoured to be on his way here." **[Mmhmm. And you thought that those cards were only for one purpose. ... Did you, though?]**

"And I know a very easy way to deal with him," The Expert said immediately. Chase hit his forehead again.

_I should really expect these things,_ Chase thought. _He is an expert at them after all._ **[Yes, Chase. Rule no. 1.]** He then asked, "What - ?"

"Well, if I'm not chosen, there's no reason for me to tell someone, is there?" **[Requirement...]**

"True." **[More following the rules! Yes!]**

Silence.

And more silence. **[Shh!]**

Until: "So... when are we getting called in?"

"We won't until we report the hazard." The Expert then walked to the Lookout, Chase following.

After a few short minutes, the usual ritual was completed, with the same pair of pups chosen for the task - mainly because of their much experience with felons. **[That's acts-ist... I think.]** The aforementioned pair, as well as the mission commander himself, were now at the crime scene-to-be that night.

"Hey, Mr. Porter."

"Ah, Ryder, PAW Patrol. What can I do for you today?" Mr. Porter offered. **[Forgets that it is night, even though it's clearly night.]**

"Actually, it is we who are here to do for you. There's a thief on his way here to try and use card magic to take the contents of your register back there," The Expert explained fully. "Chase, could you watch the store for a couple of minutes? I'll be back."

"Is this your plan?" Chase asked intelligently. **[Yes, you can ask dumbly or stupidly. Those are things that I do a lot.]**

The Expert revealed the answer indirectly. "If you intend to steal from a strong man, you cannot do so unless you first bind the strong man." **[That's somewhere in the Bible.]** He was well received with puzzled faces. "I mean, to get something done, you must first stop all hindrances by hindering it." More blank stares. "Oh, for goodness' sake. I'm gonna beat him at his own game!" That got through. "Oh creese!" **[Frustration...? Also, there is no proper word 'creese'.]**

"Where did that come from?" Chase asked, having never heard The Expert shout in almost frustration. The albino pup just started to leave. "Where are you going?"

"Two are better than one," The Expert stated frankly, not bothering to disguise that sentence. And with that, he then disappeared.

As one may have guessed, The Expert was back in the familiar clearing, waiting on The Criminal.

"Why is it that you are here?" erupted a voice from seemingly everywhere. **[Probably stole a microphone set.]**

The Expert carried on as though nothing was wrong. "Need your expertise in card magic for this case that we're working on." **[Expertise. Hahaha...]**

The Criminal came out, with a feigned befuddled expression. "The Expert needs help?" he gasped dramatically. The Expert was not in the slightest amused or ashamed or anything at all. **[Surprised? He is not and we are not.]**

"Yes. I may be an expert, but I can't do everything myself," The Expert said.

"What do you want me to do?" **[Not get killed.]**

"Surprise them."

The Criminal grinned wickedly. "The ideas flow..." he uttered as mysteriously as he possibly could. **[There will come a day, The Criminal, where you will say something and be slapped in the back of the head. And you will rue the day you said your next sentence.]**

"Are you coming or not?" his counterpart spake.

"Yeah, yeah, just taking time to practise a little." **[Yeah, this one.]**

Upon return to the store/restaurant, The Expert saw a strange figure inside and neither Chase nor Ryder directly outside. He turned to The Criminal and queried, "You ready?" He received his answer. "Always." And with that, the two fake brothers marched into the building - not before The Expert removed his paraphernalia to disguise himself. **[zzz... Oh, what? Smart? Yeah, he's smart. I'm not. We know that.]**

"Yo!" The Criminal shouted, getting the attention of the other criminal in the room. "I - We, challenge you to a magic standoff." He just about remembered to include The Expert in this act.

The shout attracted the attention of the boy and his ever-faithful German Shepherd, who poked their heads in to see the events unfolding.

"You belief yourselfs to be greater than I at magic? Trug, the master illusionist?" All that could be said of his appearance was that he was short. He was covered in a black cloak. **[Ominous. German and black combined. Awesome.]**

The dogs looked at each other, before saying at the same time: "Yeah."

Trug scoffed. "Ve shall see, rascals." **[Rascal calls rascal and non-rascal 'rascals', thereby rascally labelling a non-rascal wrongfully as a rascal. Rascal.]** He then reached into his pocket and brought out a deck of cards. "You shall go first." **[Let the magical brawl begin!]**

The Expert stepped up. "I want you to put the cards in your back pocket, where we can't see them." Trug obeyed. Then The Criminal jumped in too.

"Prepare to be - " He wasn't able to finish, because the pup next to him hit the back of his head with such a force that he dropped flat on his stomach, mouth hanging open. **[I told you...]** The Expert reached in - all who watched found it admittedly disgusting - and extracted a deck of surprisingly dry cards. **[... The Expert. That's all there is to be said.]**

Trug was impressed, but he didn't break his blank façade as The Expert handed him the cards. "Your turn." **[You wanna talk about blank? There's the master of blank right there.]**

The criminal magician collected them and simply waved his hand over them, then pressed down on them, ultimately making them vanish into thin air. **[Pretty good.]**

They were quickly reproduced by a deliberately bored The Criminal, who pulled them out of The Expert's long fur. He then asked Trug to choose a card - which he did; the ace of spades, with its fancy design. **[Tell me this is not the most overused trick there is and I will personally get a magician to prove you wrong.]**

"Cover it completely." The command was followed. The pieces of card were then handed to The Expert, who spun them perfectly in his paw. They were reduced, to Trug's slight shock, to just one card, as Trug felt his hands unable to be squeezed together. He looked between them and saw the entire deck; when he looked back to the two dogs, the one with one card in his paw showed it. One can easily guess which it was, except... **[Yeah - something had to go wrong, didn't it?]**

"Ha! You haf failed!"

In The Expert's paw was not the ace of spades. It was the ace of hearts.

"What a shame. But that shame can be changed to pride very quickly." Trug was confused at the riddle and was still trying to decipher it when The Criminal took the other cards. **[The Expert riddling.]** His duplicate touched the top card with the ace card face-up, and when that top card was flipped, it revealed...

The ace of hearts.

Now Trug couldn't hide his surprise; he was a master magician and never had to use duplicate cards to perform tricks. To see one in his deck was a bit unnerving. **[I so want to say something here, but rule #1 prevents it.]**

The Expert threw the first ace to Trug and said, "Look carefully." When it was caught, it was indeed the ace of spades.

The criminal would not be undone by that. **[No, that is not an error.]** He snatched the rest of the cards back and uttered "Behold!" as the cards morphed into bills. Dollar bills. And before anyone could stop him, he dashed out and away, stuffing the cash into his back pocket. **[He forgets that he's dealing with The Expert.]**

Chase, who had been gazing open-mouthed at the tricks, now gazed at The Expert disbelievingly. "I can't believe he got away from you, The Expert," he said spacedly.

"That's what he thinks," The Expert countered. He pulled another deck out of The Criminal's mouth to the horror and disgust of everyone again. **[I scoff at your weakness - is that a mouse?!]** Then, he replicated Trug's trick and in his paws were dollar bills, not cards, which he handed to Mr. Porter. The man took them and opened the register, to find it vacant. When he counted the dollars, it ended up being the exact amount that was in the register before the madness that ensued. **[The Expert.]**

"And just like that, crime prevented," The Expert said nonchalantly before stepping outside and away from his dumbfounded companions - even The Criminal couldn't believe it.

"Are you leaving or not?"

The posed question brought them back to the night, and they all - but Mr. Porter - gave affirmative words and gestures. With that, they headed out, still not believing. **[I'm fine with not believing, so long as you don't ask how.]**

"Next he'll be stopping bad guys with Rubik's cubes," Mr. Porter said unthinkingly as he chuckled from the night's events. **[Shadowing of the fore...]**

**Done. Finally.**

**Bye! Have a nice day! See you in the next chapter! Don't forget to review! Send a PM! Maybe some ideas, alright?**


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